by Tiffany Tay
My face was probably splotchy and reddish from the exertion of forcing my eyes to produce tears, but I he doesn’t look away as he says this. “You are a beautiful person, Stella, just like the stars.”
My nose turns sour, and my eyes well up once more. “Oh, David…” I start to say, feeling his support, his kindness, feeling whole out grateful for him…
I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. This time, they are of clear gratification. David smiles and strokes my cheek.
“Don’t worry about yourself. Your past life is gone. It’s now time to start anew, start writing new chapters in your life. You can’t change your past, but you can modify the parts that you don’t like, and string together a new life full of beautiful sentences.” He mummers. “Not,” he pauses, “that I can find any imperfection in your book of life.”
I sigh, warmth spreading out throughout my body in genuine thankfulness for this boy who had, for once in my life, made me feel so much better about myself in a way I’d never even allow myself to feel.
“Perfect?” I ask in a voice hoarse from crying. “I’m perfect?”
“Absolute.”
You make me feel perfect, I wanted to whisper, but at that very moment, the door creaked open.
*****
“Oh, you poor dear!” Holly bustles around me like a mother hen, checking my head, then my temperature (though I assured her that I’m not feverish, she insisted), feeling my pulse (yeah, I’m on a sugar rush) and then settling down on my bed with a contented sigh.
“Don’t ever do that again!” She exclaims. Once she made sure I’m in great condition, she engulfs me in a tight hug, while Theo mutters something awkwardly from the doorway.
“Come in, Theo.” I smile, gesturing for the older boy to enter, but he continues to hesitate at the doorway, unsure of my invitation to enter. While Holly had strode straight into the room, Theo looked as if a room hosting female species is to be avoided at all costs.
“Theo, come and give your well wishes!” Holly barks. I watch with amusement as Theo hung his head, and slowly approached my bed. “Get well soon, Stella!” He says, almost obediently.
Trying to keep a straight face, I thank him, than turn around to look at David, who gives me an amused wink, as if to say: what did I tell ya? I managed to hide my smile.
“I’ll go get your lunch, Stella. You’ll be safe now, in good company.” With one last smirk, David excuses himself out of the room.
“So… how’s things up there?” I inquire.
Theo opens his mouth, as if to say something, but Holly jumps in before he could. “It’s horrible! Oh--- poor Skye! And poor Nikki! She’s so devastated!”
I drop my head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save her.” I whisper.
Holly grabs my shoulders. “Oh, honey, you outdid yourself! There is no way you could’ve saved her as well!”
She then proceeded to launch into an animated speech on the situations in Somewhere Up There.
“They tried everything! You know, they sent down doughnuts with words scribbled in icing sugar, as a one-way communication! We couldn’t get an answer, couldn’t even hear a scream from below! Nothing! Then, we tried to drop a third, or was it fourth? doughnut, but get this:” she says excitedly, even bouncing up and down on my mattress, which does nothing to soothe my aching head.
Luckily, Theo rests his hand on his girlfriend’s shoulder, to calm her.
“What?” I ask, feeling curious.
“The doughnut never made it all the way down!” Holly leaped dramatically from the bed and spread her arms to the sides.
“I--- don’t understand.” I frown.
“Well… you know the old physics law: what goes up must come down?” Holly’s eyes dance excitedly, and Theo has to restrain her from further physical exertion.
“Yeah..” I drawl.
“Well, picture this! The doughnut did not fall straight down, but it actually bounced back up! Fifty feet underground and it actually bounced back up!”
Well, and I thought I was the only supernatural being here, besides Kale, of course.
Hellooo, Readers!
First of all, I just want to thank you for being the awesome person you are! Without your votes and comments, this book would never have gotten so much attention! Special thanks to a whole bunch of you out there who really enjoy my works! I will make a special dedication page after the story ends (will be a long time more) and I really want to include all of you!!! So if you’re an avid reader of my book, please let me know you are! I really want to thank you! *gratefully thanking invisible people*
So, what did you think of this chapter? Comment and vote please?? :D
What do you think would become of Skye? Of the Gala Alex doesn’t want to host? Of Niko? Of Stella and David’s relationship? ;) please leave your awesome comments!!! ^^
Sorry this update took so long, I really wanted to write every day of the week, but just when I thought I would be free to write, some unconcerned teacher would start assigning homework… ughhh. (Actually, I took this time to set aside homework just for you awesome people! :) hope you really like this story so far!
And thanks for journeying with me for so long! This book has only reached half of my target length, so I better get busy! :)
~Tiffany
Chapter Twenty-Five// Stella
Stella’s POV
“What do you mean?” I say, bewildered. “This opposes all laws of gravity!”
Holly opens up her mouth to speak, but a noise at the doorway stops her.
“Well, then, what if there are no laws of gravity down there?” A chilling voice drawls.
Holly jumps up from the bed, a snarl on her face. “Oh, it’s you.” She said with as much disdain as she could muster up.
Caleb smirks at her, then he shifts his gaze to meet mine. “Morning, Stella! Just checking to see how my beautiful girl is getting along!” He chats amiably, stiding into the room as if he owned the place.
Feeling slightly nauseated, I shrink back under the covers. “Fine, thank you.” I say hotly, eyeing him warily as he sits himself down next to me. His golden blonde hair practically shines in the dim light, and he flashes me a dazzling grin that no other girl could’ve resisted.
I gulp. “What do you want?” Holly demands in a tight voice. “Why are you allowed to visit?” She says suspiciously. Theo gave her a sideways glance.
Caleb laughs, leaning back in the chair, folding his well muscled arms across his buff chest. “Which miserable human wouldn’t grant me access to see such a lovely sight?” He drawls, winking at me. I resist the urge to throw up. Does he think he is some kind of god?
“You’d better get lost before David returns, Caleb.” Holly crosses her arms. “He wouldn’t be too pleased to see that you had barged in here.”
Caleb throws back his head and guffaws. “What? Him?” He says incredulously. “Your pathetic little group is hopelessly lagging behind right now. Two members temporarily warded, one gone missing? I hate to tell it to you, but the little team you have right now is utterly---“
“Utterly what, exactly, Caleb?” A cold voice says from the door.
Caleb’s eyes flit towards the figure blocking the doorway, and an eerie grin flickers across his face. “Why, David! Just the person to intrude.” He says, unruffled, as David stides briskly into the room and places a tray of lunch food onto a low table.
“I’m sorry? I had assumed you were the unwanted intruder.” He says in a icy voice.
Caleb laughs dryly. “Oh, has the days you spent lazing around down here taken a toll on you, you poor boy? Why do you take to hover in the hospital ward on your duty days? Or… has a particular attractive rose pulled you to---“
“Enough!” David snaps, making me look up in shock. I’d never heard him use such a commanding tone, filled to the brim with despite. “Go, before I make you.” He points a composed hand toward the door.
Theo whimpers and makes for the door, but Holly pulls him back, deep a
nger etched on her face. “We’ll fight him together, won’t we?” She says heatedly.
Wait, what?
Theo appears to be the most shaken of the group. “Um, Holly?” He says uncertainly.
“Anyone who dares insult Group Nine and our leader would have to get. It.” She says through gritted teeth. Oh… kay…
“You should go, Caleb.” I say. “I mean, before you get, uh, pulverized.”
Caleb’s eyebrows lift. “Really? To whom do I owe such a pleasure?” He says mockingly. “Are you going to be the one doing my face in? Cuz I’d love such a charming young girl to---“
It all happened so fast, I missed it in one blink. The next thing I knew, David had Caleb pinned to a wall. I gasp, and fling off my covers. Theo lets out a mangled squeak, and drags Holly away.
“Don’t. Talk. To. Her. Like. That.” David sputters, his grip around Caleb’s white collared shirt growing tighter with every syllable. His arm muscle strains with the effort, his veins are on the verge of bursting. David’s face beads with sweat, and he is flushed red. There is something in his eyes that sent waves of terror down my spine, and I have to bite my lip to keep my insides intact.
Spluttering, Caleb chokes, “Let me go.”
“What had I ever done to you, Caleb… what?” David practically yells. Caleb struggles under his grip, his face swelling deep magenta. “Why do you always have to turn my life into a living hell!?”
“You…” Caleb gasps for breath.
“My whole existance has been haunted, and do I need to give myself another reason to hate myself, huh, do I?” David’s eyes tear up, and he looks as if someone had plunged a knife deep into his brain, and twisted the handle.
Caleb chokes like a half dead fish.
“One time too many, Caleb. You had to do this… just out of spite to me!” David growls bitterly.
With one last ounce of strength, David pushes Caleb against the wall, and releases his grip on him. Caleb slinks to the ground, pawing at his throat.
“David, please.” I whisper, squirming in my bed. “Stop.”
David whips around, and for a moment, all I could register is the venomous look in his eyes, a growing maniacle terror consuming him, grief, anguish… it hurt to look at him.
Those few minutes were frightful. I had witnessed a side to David I know only something terrible could gorge out from him. Something vile, something unspeakable had once terrorized him, and now it’s unleashing absolute fear throughout him, changing him from the amiable boy I had once known.
“David.” I choke on a sob. This was too much, too horrible to take in. Whatever had broke David in the past, I fear would his mental and emotional wounds would never heal.
David glances at me, his breathing comes out as laboured.
I wanted to crawl out of the bed, to just calm him down, take a moment to feel his pain, his affliction. The truth was, I was getting a little shaken by him.
From the ground, Caleb lets out a shattered moan, reminding us of his existance.
“We’ll remove him.” Holly volunteers, and together, she and Theo dragged him out of the room, practically slamming the door in their haste to get away as soon as possible from this horrendous scene.
Left alone with a fuming David, I begin to feel an unanimous calm settling over me.
David had lived a shattered past. He had been broken, one time too many, for him to had have healed again. The frustration he had exerted just before had proved to me that so much horror, endless sorrow, had haunted his life.
It’s time to fix that. It’s time to change.
Flinging off the bed covers completely, I gently lower myself onto the floor, taking care not to move my injured head to much.
Once I’m on my feet, I stand, shaky, staring uncertainly at David, who’s face in now devoid of emotion.
One minute’s silence passes between us, and soon he breaks it by saying, “I’m sorry, Stella. I--- you must think I’m a horrible person now.” His voice catches at the end of the sentence, and I talk a step closer, giving him a reassuring smile.
“Shh… David, I understand. You were provoked to the extent of releasing all your pent up resentment.” I say coaxingly.
I take slow steps towards him, watching the uncertainty wash over his face. At last I reach him.
“You aren’t aftaid of… of me?” David whispers, his eyes two pools of deep grieviance, gazing soulfully down at me.
I smile, all terror dismissed at once. Then I did something so instinctive , it surprised even myself. (okay, fine, I am naturally impulsive.)
I reach out, and engulf him is a hug.
I feel him tense up for a second, then smile as I feel his tension vanish, as he relaxes into the hug.
“I would never be afraid of you. You are too intimidatingly stunning.”
Chapter Twenty-Six// David
David’s POV
It was a sunny day outside, and my parents had decided to take our whole family out to the only park for a picnic. The Techno Park, the widest patch of greenery still perfectly preserved in the world--- and that’s how I spent my last moments above ground. Well… I’ll get to that later.
At that time, I was twelve, and still pretty much a boy, less of a teenager, a little on the moody side, and with a great ounce of stupidity only a grown guy could look upon with a certain fondness, and cringe just ever so slightly.
Well, those were the days, of ice-creams in the parks, of cheery sunshiny days and happy smiles. On those particular days, we always went on those treasured family outings involving every possible embarrassing family moment a person could dream up, which is what I’m doing right now.
Lucid dreaming had always come easily to me. Basically, it’s just dreaming and knowing you are experiencing a dream. But at this moment, what I’m experiencing isn’t so much a dream than a sheer memory--- a flashback.
Back to the park. Now, the park had always been a source of unending entertainment for my sister and I. Brooke and I, (my older sister, and a pest at that time) were so bored with the never ending ‘situations’ going on at home, that we absolutely begged our parents to take us to the park.
Well, that day, no one had brought up the subject of a picnic, but it kind of happened anyway. In my foggy, childish state of mind, I remember lugging a heavy picnic basket, past the endless buzz of the city, through the dazzling brightness of the sunlight reflecting from the high storey glass window panes, and into the dense thicket of what tourists flock over from the whole world to see--- the park in all it’s natural glory.
“Couldn’t you carry mine for me?” Fifteen-year-old Brooke begs me, straining under the weight of her knapsack, sweating profusely under the glaring sunlight which had become the bane of our existence.
“No--- I’ve got my load. Plus, you are supposed to be the stronger one!” I pointed out.
Brooke then proceeded to lunge into a conversation on how males were supposed to be stronger, and how brother’s were supposed to take the load off their sisters, and I retaliated with my own words of pure wisdom, when all of a sudden, mom and dad halted, causing Brooke and I to almost collide into them. Gran lagged behind, strolling peacefully and singing old songs of nature to herself.
“What’s up, mom?” Brooke questions, her light blonde curls bouncing as she pants for breath. “Why are you stopping? Our usual picnic spot is over there, by the lake.”
When she said lake, she meant man-made, of course. The oldest of lakes had already dried up decades ago, leaving ugly gaping holes the government had tried to cover up by furthering their never-ending developments. The old dried up lakes are now parking lots under towering skyscrapers. Which is a waste, in my opinion.
“No… it’s not…” mom stammers, but dad rushes in to fill her sentence gap. “No, what mom means, is, we uh… would you like some ice-cream?”
Well, I just loathe it when grown ups deny telling their kids the truth, and make up some cover story for whatever they really are discussing behind our
backs. But at that moment in life, who could resist an offer of ice-cream? Especially on such a blazing hot summer’s day?
Mom and dad allowed us to dump our stuff on a picnic table and Brooke and I ran to the ice-cream stall. There were three in the park, but Brooke and I particularly fancied one called I-seek-crème. It wasn’t the cheesy name, nor was the limited menu that had drawn our attention and favour, but it was all about presentation.
While the other ice cream stalls were air-conditioned and fully quipped with fancy machines and classy tables, I-seek-crème had seeked after originality, taking ice cream back down to level one: the basics.
“One double chocolate fudge with coloured sprinkles, please?” Brooke says to the wizened man seated behind the wooden stall, under the shade of nothing but an old gaily coloured umbrella. The old man, Patrick, smiled and slowly crawled out of his seat.
“How about the young man?” He says, retrieving a tub of ice cream from a miniature freezer under his table.
“Banana pecan.” I answer without hesitation.
“You would!” Brooke teases.
“Well… you always opt for chocolate. And a double doesn’t count as only one ice cream, which mom said we could have. But you are having a double scoop, which technically isn’t fair, because it counts as two---“
“Well… why not even things up, you kids? Double for the both of you, with half the charge!” Patrick budges in, smiling a happy crinkly smile.
So… that’s how our bickering ended. Brooke now had more calories to stuff down her throat, and I would probably have to give her most of mine, as I couldn’t really eat up all that crème.
We took our cones, repeatedly thanked Patrick for his kindness, and began walking back to where mom and dad stood waiting. I see gran a little way off, walking dangerously close to the lake, staring off into the horizon as if a stork might land on the surface of the water and drop a little bundle of joy onto her lap.
“Go drag gran in.” I ask Brooke. She was too busy indulging in her chocolate supreme to pay me much attention. Grumbling something unintelligible, she waved me off, and headed back to our picnic table.